What to feed my F2?

[Marissa]

Are there any tips to get a 19 month old f2 SV to eat raw? We got her when she was a year and the only thing she was exposed to was dry and boiled chicken. She won't touch ANYTHING besides that and hot dogs. I'd like her to eat the other food by other guys get but she just won't.

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

You can try by cooking the chicken less and less each time, so gradually weaning her onto raw chicken that way.

Or you can mix in the boiled chicken with a little raw chicken and then keep increasing the amount of raw as she continues to eat it...

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

You can also experiment with the types of raw... which raw meats have you tried and have you tried ground, small pieces and larger chunks of all of those? Some cats can like one and not the other. I have ones here that like rabbit pieces and others that prefer ground rabbit. Most of mine prefer rabbit and many won't even eat raw chicken...

 

[Marissa]

She's on natures variety rabbit, but I have tried giving her ground turkey, she has eaten it, but she doesn't always. I've also tried turkey necks, and gizzard and it was a no go. She is strange, my others will gobble down anything, food or not food

I've thought about pulling the dry food all together, but I kinda feel guilty about ..... I know she won't starve herself but I still haven't done it.

 

[WitchyWoman]

Does she have any treats that she likes? When my guys are hesitant to try something new, I sprinkle either dried tuna flakes on it or dried chicken liver powder. They love both and will eat anything (at least once) when its sprinkled with their favorite treat.

It may take a bit of time for her to recognize that the new food is actually food but keep trying the tips given to you already and she'll likely develop more of a taste for raw even if she doesn't come round to eating it exclusively.

Another thing that may work is to make the food into play. Tie a piece of meat with string and drag it around to see if she chases it which may trigger her prey drive.

I transitioned 2 elderly kibble-addicted DSHs to raw ground then raw pieces and eventually to whole prey so it can be done with time, experimentation, and patience.

 

[Marissa]

Ok that sounds good. She likes the friskees pounce treats, but I don't try and buy them too often. I'll see if I can incorporate them or hotdogs grinder up

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

None of mine will eat turkey, and most don't like the raw mixes like Natures Variety that have fruits and vegetables added. Over the years I think I have tried just about every brand... cats can be very individual with what they will and won't eat. A friend laughed at me when she visited that I was running some sort of fancy cat hotel with the variety of foods I put out at mealtimes to accommodate them all!

 

[admin]

None of mine will eat turkey, and most don't like the raw mixes like Natures Variety that have fruits and vegetables added. Over the years I think I have tried just about every brand... cats can be very individual with what they will and won't eat. A friend laughed at me when she visited that I was running some sort of fancy cat hotel with the variety of foods I put out at mealtimes to accommodate them all!

Mine will not eat turkey either. And I have tried many, many different raw food and just cat food in general...and then I end up having to donate to no kill shelter...my cats eat better than I do sometimes.

 

[Candyce]

I like Jacqui's thinking - the simpler, the better. I think as long as hearts and liver are in the mix, supplements probably aren't needed, although a bit of extra taurine couldn't hurt. And the hearts and liver should be from the same animal, so raw chicken = chicken livers and chicken hearts. I do not give any supplements at all with whole prey.

I've been following this thread and it's given me some things to think about. I've been feeding raw and whole prey to my growing number of Savannahs (3 F3's now) for three years. I've read about the degradation of vitamins and minerals in the freezing process and so I've been adding those on a daily basis after the meat has been defrosted. It would sure make the process a LOT easier if I were to add the Mazuri, taurine and salmon oil during the grinding process instead. I'm now thinking that the natural vitamins and taurine in the meat may degrade, but perhaps not the supplements. What do you think? Two other thoughts I had while reading here are that the the amounts for the Mazuri supplement vary greatly for the two different formulations they offer for cats and the suggested amount in an earlier post should be double checked on the Mazuri site depending on the formula ordered (slab meat vs. meat with bones). The second thought is that I've read that heart is considered a muscle meat, not an organ meat for nutritional purposes. But, oh, I wish it were as heart is easier to find than any organ, except liver. BTW, I scored 8 packages of hearts and gizzards at the grocery store yesterday, I was almost giddy! The "unusual" meats are hard to find here.

 

[WitchyWoman]

Candyce....muscle meat contains the most taurine and that's why it's important to include it in a raw diet.

Here's a general breakdown of proportions for those who don't feed whole prey (info from catnutrition.org):

• 80–85% meat (besides boneless muscle meat, this can and should also include things like fat, skin, sinew, tendons, cartilage and any other soft connective tissue etc.)

• 10% edible bone

• 5-10% organs (with half that amount being liver)